1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus for processing document data such as character (sentence) data, graphic (figure) data, and photographic image data (to be referred to as image data hereinafter).
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional wordprocessor, ruled line segments are connected to form a table frame when the table frame constituted by vertical and horizontal lines is formed in a document. When graphic data such as a map and an illustration and image data such as a photograph are pasted in a document, a rectangular frame (block) closed by block marks representing frame elements is drawn. An attribute such as a frame of an image and a graph and identifiers such as names for establishing correspondence with image and graphic data separately prepared are set in the block. At the time of printing, image and graphic data corresponding to the frame are pasted during printing.
According to the above technique, frame element positions may deviate from desired positions due to insertion or deletion of characters, due to data the destruction of, or no display may be performed. In addition, because each block is constituted by a combination of characters as block elements, it is impossible to overlap blocks or to move block independently of the movement of sentences in the case of the addition or insertion of a sentence. It is also very difficult to perform centering or rightward shifting of a block and assign other functions to the block with respect to paper or a sheet.
Along with the recent developments in microprocessors and peripheral devices such as cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and printers, highly advanced document processing based on work stations has been practiced. This processing is called WSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Input and editing operations can be performed in a real time manner while the printing result of a document is kept displayed on a screen.
A block has independent information as block information in a document and can be independently processed. FIG. 2 shows block information of document processing in a conventional work station. Block information includes a block priority 2-1 which represents a priority order of blocks if blocks overlap each other, a flag 202 representing whether a block is a block floating on the basis of a sentence in a document (to be referred to as a floating block hereinafter) or a block permanently pasted at a given position of a given page independently of sentences (to be referred to as a fixed block hereinafter), a page number/floating block number which represents a page number of a page to which the fixed block is pasted or a floating block number in the case of the floating block, X and Y coordinates 2-4 in an upper left block, i.e., a paste position of the block when the upper left end of the fixed block on paper is defined as an origin, block width and height 2-5 defining the size of the block, and a block data address 2-6 as a pointer representing an actual data position within the block.
A conventional block has only one block data attribute selected from a table, a graph, a sentence, and an image. A plurality of attributes cannot be assigned to each block. Therefore, it is impossible to add explanatory sentences to, e.g, a graph or image. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to delete data within the block or move data from one block to another block when sentences, graphs, and images overlap each other.
In the conventional station, either fixed blocks or floating blocks are used. No data transfer between the fixed and floating blocks can be performed. Therefore, no distinction between the fixed and floating blocks on the display screen is provided.
Block data is generated using a block start point such as an upper left end as an origin once a block is formed. When a block size is changed in favor of document layout or input/editing convenience, the block size can be changed in four directions, i.e., upper, lower, right, and left directions. However, a space cannot be formed in, e.g., an extended portion, or space is not eliminated. Even if a block 3-1 in FIG. 3A is expanded to the upper left direction to form a space in the upper left position, internal graphic data in the block is moved in the upper left direction, as indicated by a block 3-2 in FIG. 3B, resulting in inconvenience.
A block having almost the same size as paper is often required in a document. In a conventional system, however, it is difficult to form such a block since start and end points are designated by a pointing device such as a mouse. In addition, it is almost impossible to increase the block size accurately equal to the paper size.
A U.S. Application titled "Document Processing Apparatus", commonly assigned to the present assignee discloses a technique wherein a sheet was constituted by a plurality of layers to be displayed or printed, e.g., a sentence layer, a graphic layer, an image layer, and a form layer. In this case, when a layer pasted to a given specific page is subjected to an input/editing operation such as insertion or deletion of data and is required to be moved to another page, the conventional station is incapable of performing such processing.
It is also impossible for the conventional work station to move only a given block while data of layer of the given block pasted on a sheet of the plurality of layers or to move only layer data while the block is fixed.
The following floating blocks are available in the conventional work stations.
(1) As shown in FIG. 4A, a floating block mark 4-1 and a floating block 4-2 are included in a sentence 4-3, and the floating block 4-2 is dealt like a character. In this case, phrases are adjacent to the floating block 4-2. If a block size is large enough to interfere with the upper and lower lines, line feeding is performed by a required number of lines, so that the block does not interfere with the upper and lower lines. Deletion or movement of the floating block 4-2 is performed by that of the block mark 4-1.
(2) As shown in FIG. 4B, a floating block mark 4-4 is inserted at a position by floating block designation. An actual floating block 4-5 is inserted as an independent block outside this line in a full measure or one-column layout. Deletion or movement of the floating block is performed by that of a floating mark 4-4 in the same manner as in case (1).
According to the conventional techniques as described above, the floating block is dealt as a character or the independent block in a full measure.
When the floating block in case (2) is arranged in layout of a half or smaller measure, the sentences before a floating block 4-6 are displayed in a full measure, thus resulting in poor appearance, as shown in FIG. 4C.
A fixed block (frame) is moved such that the fixed frame is designated by a pointing device such as a mouse. In this case, a moving distance is visually determined by an operator. If a plurality of fixed blocks are present on one page, it is cumbersome and very difficult to move the blocks while the relative positional relationship between the blocks is maintained.
When a plurality of fixed blocks are intentionally overlapped with each other, the overlapping order is the order of generation of the blocks. However, once the fixed blocks overlap each other, any way of changing the overlapping order is not available. If the overlapping order is wrong, the fixed blocks must be formed from the beginning.
When a fixed block is moved or copied from one page to another page, the fixed block is cut and pasted as needed. However, it is very difficult to paste the fixed block at identical positions of the respective pages because position determination is guess work.
When a fixed block across the adjacent pages is cut according to a conventional technique, cutting and pasting are performed, or page movement is performed. In the former manipulation, a page in which a block to be cut must be designated, cutting of the block must be designated, a page in which the cut block is to be pasted must be designated, and paste of the block must be designated, thereby complicating the operational procedures. In the latter case, data after a given page is copied or moved only to another and subsequent pages. It is therefore very difficult to rearrange a plurality of fixed blocks on arbitrary pages. If possible, time-consuming and cumbersome operations are required.
No conventional technique is available to constitute a sheet by a plurality of layers such as a sentence layer, a graphic layer, an image layer, and a form layer to be simultaneously displayed or printed. Even a frame is not constituted by a plurality of layers, thus posing the following problems. That is, it is impossible to fetch only a frame size, a document, a graph, or an image, or a combination thereof.
When the frame size is changed upon formation of a frame, the internal data is moved upon a change in frame size, as indicated by the frame 3-2 in FIG. 3B. It is impossible to add graphic data in a blank portion formed by increasing the frame in, e.g., the upper left direction.
When the internal data is sentence data and the frame is expanded in the upper left position, it is desirable to move the sentence data upon expansion of the frame (on the basis of the format).
As described above, the document format and, in particular, the "printing plate" position, character feed, and line feed must be intentionally determined according to the conventional techniques when framing, frame movement, and the like are taken into consideration. In addition, if graphic data is included in a frame, the relative position between the graphic and character data, and alignment thereof must be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is very difficult to visually guess positioning in framing and frame movement. Operations for framing and frame movement are very difficult due to the same reasons as described above when the graphic data position is determined with a frame on white paper (i.e., no input data) or when a frame is determined for an original having a predetermined size.
When a frame and data inside the frame are fetched and are pasted to another document or the like, positional information is not preserved. Once the layout is determined and if an illustration, a drawing, and logo data such as a company name which require predetermined positioning are present, the layout must be determined again at the time of the pasting. In addition, since the layout is visually determined by an operator, identical positioning operations are not assured. When data in the frame is displayed together with a movement position, display of such data is delayed.
When a floating frame is to be changed into a fixed frame, data in the floating frame must be fetched and pasted into a fixed frame. However, positional information of the floating frame cannot be preserved, and it is difficult to paste the data at identical positions in the fixed frame.
As described above, in order to move a frame to another page according the conventional techniques, the frame is cut out, a desired destination page is designated, and the cut frame is pasted on the desired page. Alternatively, simultaneous processing can be performed such that frames from a given page are sequentially shifted to the desired and subsequent pages. A plurality of frames which are formed on a given page and each of which has three layers, e.g., a character layer, a graphic layer, and an image layer cannot be simultaneously moved to another page, resulting in inconvenience. In addition, background data such as an image (except for characters), a graph, and the like cannot be moved to another page.
When the above frame described above is formed, a margin may be assured within the frame in which sentences are written. However, the frame and sentence data outside the frame are close too much, or a distance between the frame and character data outside the frame is permanently set. When a space is to be formed between the sentence data and the frame, a cumbersome operation for changing the frame size and moving the internal data is required. When lines such as a solid line and a broken line are present in the frame, the frame size cannot be changed. Therefore, the distance between the frame and data outside the frame cannot often be changed in practice.
As described above, no conventional technique is proposed to constitute a sheet by a plurality of layers such as a sentence layer, a graphic layer, an image layer, and a form layer to be simultaneously displayed or printed. For this reason, an inhibited area cannot be arranged outside the frame to save sentences in the inhibited area. It is impossible to write a supplementary drawing consisting of a graph or to draw a leader line in the inhibited area.
As described above, no conventional technique is proposed to constitute a sheet by a plurality of layers such as a sentence layer, a graphic layer, an image layer, and a form layer to be simultaneously displayed or printed. In addition, no conventional frame is assigned with a plurality of layers.
For this reason, it is impossible to paste or cram all or some of the plurality of layers in the preset frame. In addition, cram processing cannot be performed according to layers.
In a conventional technique, when the frame and data therein are fetched and pasted in another document, their positional information is not preserved. Once the layout is determined and if an illustration, a drawing, and logo data such as a company name which require predetermined positioning are present, the layout must be determined again at the time of pasting. In addition, since the layout is visually determined by an operator, identical positioning is not assured. When data in the frame is displayed together with a movement position, display of such data is delayed.
When a floating frame is to be changed into a fixed frame, data in the floating frame must be fetched and pasted into a fixed frame. However, positional information of the floating frame cannot be preserved, and it is difficult to paste the data at identical positions in the fixed frame.
When image data is crammed according to a conventional technique, the read data is cut out and registered. The registered data is crammed in a frame to be crammed. Therefore, there is no concept of simultaneously processing a document, a graph, and an image such that a frame is formed during formation of a document, an image is input, and then a document is formed by checking matching between the image and the document without interrupting the operations.
As described above, in order to move a frame to another page according conventional techniques, the frame is cut out, a desired destination page is designated, and the cut frame is pasted on the desired page. Alternatively, simultaneous processing can be performed such that frames from a given page are sequentially shifted to the desired and subsequent pages. A plurality of frames which are formed on a given page and each of which has three layers, e.g., a character layer, a graphic layer, and an image layer cannot be simultaneously moved to another page, resulting in inconvenience. In addition, background data such as an image (except for characters), a graph, and the like cannot be moved to another page.